Following Jesus 178

The late, great college football coach Bo Schembechler once remarked the most important thing to remember when playing football was “The Team! The Team! The Team! It might not be out of line to say that the most important thing for the church to remember as it carries out its responsibilities is “The Gospel! The Gospel! The Gospel!

For the next few weeks, we are going to biblically study the Four Essential Truths of the Gospel. We are going to examine the core, or fundamental, message and meaning of the Gospel. We not only need to know the truths contained in the Gospel, but we must also be ready to defend it (I Peter 3:15).

What is the first core truth of the Gospel? It is that God exists! This is the God of the Scriptures. The God of the Bible. The One, True God.

There was time not that long ago that when you shared the gospel with someone you could immediately speak of man’ sin and then share the good news concerning Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Not any longer. More often than not, the first question people want answered in discussing the gospel is how I, or anyone else for that matter, can know God exists?

How do we respond to this question? How do Christians know that God exists? Dr. Ken Hamm, Creation Research Institute, states that the gospel really begins in Genesis 1:1. Are there any evidences that support the idea for the existence of God? I submit that there are several. Four of these evidences for God’s existence are found in Psalm 19.

Psalm 19 is a Psalm of David. The theme of the David’s psalm is God’s revelation of His existence. In other words, how does God reveal His existence to mankind? He does so in a general way through creation (vs. 1-6) and in a specific way through His Word (vs. 7-14).

To begin with, God’s Existence is revealed in the Reality of Worship by Creation. Vs. 1a. The heavens declare the glory of God, 19:1a.

The heavens, the sky or the atmosphere intensely and intentionally recount or tell of the honor, distinction and glory of the One, True God. The declaration by the heavens of God’s glory belongs to God and God alone. In effect, this is worship.

God has implanted within creation, and each human being, a desire to worship. Worship may be directed toward something or someone. This desire, however mistakenly it may be expressed, is an evidence for the existence of God. E.g. idolatry. Why is it that cultures who never have heard the name of God, or Jesus Christ, erect idols to some fictional god? It is because God has placed within man this desire to honor and praise something or someone greater than himself.

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